Her SUV full-to-bursting with four pets and loads of luggage, Hurricane Irma refugee Sharon Connors was seemingly out of options when her hotel plans fell through in Alcoa Saturday evening.

“It was like, ‘What am I going to do?’” said Connors, who drove here from Woodbine, Ga., a small town along the Georgia-Florida line. “Everything was booked for hundreds of miles, and I have four animals and only a little money.”

But with a little help from some friendly salespeople at an Alcoa Highway Honda dealership, Connors was able to find accommodations that suited both her budget and her needs, at Alnwick Community Center off Big Springs Road in Maryville.

Nearly 6 million homes and businesses, nearly 60 percent of Florida’s customers, were without power statewide after Irma made its way up the western edge of the state, spawning tornadoes, toppling cranes in Miami and flooding streets. The widespread power outages stretch from the Florida Keys all the way into north Florida.

In Orange, Seminole, Lake and Osceola counties, nearly 750,000 homes and businesses, more than half of the customers, were in the dark as of 6 a.m., state officials said.

Not to be an ass but the primary thing I get from the Naples drone footage is that apparently people/business in the "sunshine state" have chosen to ignore photovoltaic panels as supplements to their power needs.

Something about FPL having a lock against them, but it's lost ballot initiatives and such so that situation is supposed to change. Still, PV wouldn't help for these rare instances, if on grid. Too wet (maybe) and have to be disconnected for safety whenever grid is down.

According to Hollywood Fire Rescue and Police, 120 people were evacuated at The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, located at 1200 N 35 Ave., due to intense heat and no power. Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief also confirmed five people have died,

As I said during Hurricane Harvey,
Unacceptable. Every municipality should have a list of these types of facilities to make sure the residents are safe.

According to the previous FEMA director under Clinton, they do have lists.

At least the Texas residents lived.

Not sure FEMA is up to the job in Florida. In response to the people in dire need in the Keys, his response was, we told you to leave. He has no excuses for the dire needs in other parts of the state. Can he say Immokalee?

The owner of the nursing facility where eight people died Wednesday during a power outage caused by Hurricane Irma has a history of health care fraud charges.
...
in 2006 settled claims after he and five others were accused of agreeing to send patients to his Miami hospital, Larkin Community, for unnecessary treatment, according to the Department of Justice. Federal prosecutors said that Michel received kickbacks as part of the deal and that some of the patients came from assisted living facilities that he owned.
...
paid $15.4 million to settle the charges, according to the Department of Justice.

Did the State of Florida Dept. of Elder Affairs do a disservice to these senior citizens?